VCAT to hear hotel pokies challenge

Victoria's planning tribunal will be asked to rule whether an historic Bendigo hotel is allowed to install more gaming machines.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation decided last month to give the Shamrock Hotel permission for 20 more pokies, taking the number of machines in the pub to 65.

However, the Bendigo council believes state laws prohibit the installation of more machines in the pub, which is in the city's CBD.

The council's planning director, Prue Mansfield, says the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) will hear argument about the legislation.

"We have what we think is very sound legal advice, I'm sure the Shamrock thinks their legal advice is very sound ... the [VCAT] declaration will actually make the path forward clear and everyone will know what the next steps are," she said.

"At the moment we can't even predict that because of this fundamental legal question."

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.